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Back to basics time: crotchety, cantankerous old elven wizard build:
Narrowed it down to these:
STR:07
DEX+16
CON-12
INT+20
WIS:11
CHA:07
...most offensive power, best AC/ranged, and highest INIT, but annoyance of WIS score that never improves, and I just don't like seeing multiple 7s on a character sheet.
STR:07
DEX+14 or 16
CON-12 or 10 if you're a gambler
INT+20
WIS:12
CHA:08
...More my cup of tea: gains WIS and CHA at expense of DEX for better Perception (going with a hawk or owl familiar + trait here for world-class Perception). Diplo+1, UMD+1. Good for Invisible spammer of Summons and battlefield control spells (he won't be using his DEX score much).
STR:07
DEX+16
CON-12
INT+19
WIS:14
CHA:08
...Trades offensive power for good DEX and even better Perception.
Exploit: PFS has a "progression" mechanic which enables the player to slow down the pace of leveling so that they can enjoy their character longer at certain levels. Basically, you can choose to take half-XP and half-rewards on your cert. So, you play "normal" progression when INT is an odd number, and "slow" down when it is even.
-- What this means is that it will take nine normal 1pt certs to get from 1st to 4th (and there are a number of APs that pop you straight to 2nd in one session), but then I can slow down and enjoy TWENTY-FOUR 1/2pt adventures before hitting 8th, during which time my wizard's INT bonus is exactly the same as another who started with a 20 and is now 21. Savings? FIVE FREAKIN' BUILD POINTS! (Starting 17 versus 18 before racial adjustment.)
(This tactic is especially good if you seldom play characters past 8th in PFS, as tends to be my case for one reason or another.)
STR:07
DEX+14
CON-10
INT+19 (17,14,12,12,12,12 array)
WIS:12
CHA:12
...Similar to above, but much more gregarious; grabs a Diplomacy trait and keeps the skill up. This lets me be party face at tables which would otherwise lack one, as well as cakewalk PFS Faction tasks tied to that skill. (If there's one thing I really hate in PFS, it's blowing my faction mission, which garfs "fame" and "prestige points" -- nothing sucks worse than having the gold to buy a gadget, but not the *access*.) Also +3 to UMD versus CHA:07 builds, if UMD is part of your plans, too, and you don't want to rely on having to wait for an Improved Familiar to do it for you. Being able to UMD a wand of CLW is a powerful asset in PFS.
Annoyance: requires Additional Traits to get all of Perception, Diplomacy, and UMD as class (most skill traits also come with a +1 bonus, yielding a +4 differential versus not having it class, for a total +6 or +7 improvement versus pure power builds that dump the associated stat (and such builds typically have no ability at all in the skill without taking ranks). That's three traits down, and only one slot left for either Magical Lineage or Eyes and Ears of the City (for INIT+2).
Demerit: CON:10 is really pushing your luck in a d4 class.
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Ideas?
If I was doing it I'd go
STR:8
DEX:12
CON:12
INT:20
WIS:12
CHA:8
If you want to be a face take student of philosophy you get int to two face skills.
With wizards I tend to ignore AC find a better defence don't invest expensive and one off resources for a mediocre defence that will become irrelevant quickly.
There are no D4 classes so that's a thing you don't have to worry about.
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8/12/14/18/12/7
This is before racials. All casters should be able to take 1 full attack and an aoo imo.
I have played multiple dedicated casters in pfs including oracle, sorcerer, 2 shaman, a druid, just started a second durid, mesmerist, and a caster bard. Only on the mesmerist did I have a 20 casting stat and I have never had a problem.
Playing well is way more important than 1 dc. Covering all saves, Sr, immunities, always knowing the lowest save, having the right meta magic rod or spells prepared. These are all way more important.
Personally, minimum acceptable Constitution is 13, intending to put the 4th level stat advancement towards it, to make a 14. I would never play PFS past those first three levels with <13. Ever.
Wizards get d6 hp, not d4.
This character may get good at perception, but will never be "world class" without so much investment as to be otherwise crippling your build. Remember the range modifiers for perception, coupled with your slot in the marching order - you will often start farthest from the action. I advise tempering your expectations here and leave high-end Perception to those better suited.
Even Wizards have to carry stuff. Bags of holding have weight. If I were your beefier party member, with the diplomacy deficit that often accompanies such builds, I wouldn't carry your crap. Might want a higher strength. I recommend 8-10.
If you plan on being an invisible, crowd controlling, summoning style wizard, you just need a basic Intelligence score suitable for wizardry... 15+. You can consider a headband later and level ups to get smarter. This would give you the stat points to address the shortcomings above.
Good luck.
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str : 7
dex : 16
cos : 14
int : 19
wis : 10
cha: 7
form lv4 put everything on INT
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Personally, minimum acceptable Constitution is 13, intending to put the 4th level stat advancement towards it...First rule of point-buy: never raise a stat that is NOT your prime stat, and especially not if it's your "one-trick-pony" prime stat (i.e., INT for wizards, STR for barbarians, etc). Otherwise, you are wasting build points by overpaying and then not raising.
Wizards get d6 hp, not d4.Er, I totally knew that. <Kenobi hand wave> These are not the things you saw me write.
This character may get good at perception, but will never be "world class" without so much investment as to be otherwise crippling your build. Remember the range modifiers for perception, coupled with your slot in the marching order - you will often start farthest from the action. I advise tempering your expectations here and leave high-end Perception to those better suited.You'd be surprised how jacked an elf wizard with a familiar can pump Perception; only dedicated skulk builds can do better, and none get *two* rolls (one for the wizard and one for the familiar). Range tends to not be a problem in dungeon-crawls, and PFS loves to screw with "open country" characters (guys who need room to charge, especially Spirited Charge types).
Even Wizards have to carry stuff.Nah, I'm dumping strength. If I were a halfling with STR:05, it'd be an issue -- but I've even gotten away with that before. I had a finesse Samurai with STR:07 once before, and he did OK even loaded up with armor. He kept his junk in his mount's saddlebags, and "Reduced" the animal when necessary via UMD'd wand.)
If I were your beefier party member, with the diplomacy deficit that often accompanies such builds, I wouldn't carry your crap.*snort* ...Like the brute's CHA is going to be any higher than mine. ;-)
If you plan on being an invisible, crowd controlling, summoning style wizard, you just need a basic Intelligence score suitable for wizardry... 15+....Good luck.
I'm probably going to go blaster route. Need to murder enemy saves, so pumped INT required.
When my guy lights off a big one, I want the room to shake and dice bounce off the table.
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Latest array choices:
"Embrace the 7s!"
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STR:07
DEX+18
CON-12
INT+19
WIS:10
CHA:07
...this is probably "Brewster"'s template for his curvaceous "Sampy" (he lists only her starting DEX and INT). Curious why he wanted/needed DEX so high in a 95% AoE blaster build. (I'm supposing it's because the character spends less time being invisible than most wizards.)
STR:07
DEX+16
CON-12
INT+19
WIS:14
CHA:07
...DEX-1 for WIS+2
STR:07
DEX+14 or 12
CON-14
INT+19
WIS:10 or 12
CHA:07
...best CON
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That Dex is not going to do much when you are not invisible. Mage armor + dex is 17 ac +9000gp of the next cheapest items ring, amulet, ioun stone. Only gets you to 20 Mithril buckler that is enchanted can get this to 23 at a reasonable price. That's more than half you wealth at level 6. Attack bonuses in hard fights (+3 cr) will be +17 on average but can be much higher than that. And, the prices to keep up gets worse from there.
Hp helps every fight you get hit. It helps in hard and easy fights. It helps against crits.
That said if you want ac as a wizard with low con you need to a fortifying or a buffering cap immediately because crits kill.
In the point buy you seem to being going out of you way to get +1 to the dcs of your spells but want to drop cash, that could be spent elsewere, on AC.
I would use mirror image and buy a rod of persistent metamagic (~=+4.5 DC), bouncing metamagic for single targets and piercing for SR. This is a much better use of resources. If what you want to do is play a dodging old wizard that's awesome but if dcs are you focus you should apply that a cross the build and not chase the most costly often hardest to optimize defense in the game.
Also that is what emergency force shpere takes care of all damage at higher levels. (Though I have never used it myself)
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Because it is smart and knows to attack casters first.
It used ethereal jaunt and you were at the back of the pack.
You're a halfling and it's a bulette.
You just tried to cast a save or die spell on it on it and it made its save.
You dispelled it's buffs.
Because I rolled randomly for an earth gliding earth elemental.
The rest of your team is dead.
Though none of that matters because the scaling of attack vs ac favour attack heavily and a wizard will always have better ways to spend resources than on AC. This is true regardless of the design of the encounter. Without a ton of dedication by mid levels cr-2 creatures will be hitting reliably and all the ac money will be wasted.
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I would say you are hitting mid levels 8-12 or high levels for PFS.
Reliable is relative to your other abilities your using a round of casting to get to 75% success rate with ac. But the same round used for mirror image give you a much better miss rate. Also, your ac does nothing against something grappling you. Mirror image would. So your action gives you a less reliable outcome.
Next, resources you spent 14000 thousand on AC which is most of your wealth by level. This can be made more efficient by replacing the amulet with a +1 Mithril buckler. Even picking fun items I would say mirror image + decoy ring + headband of int is better then shield + ac stuff + 2000 gp. And I think that's a bad decission.
Remember I'm not saying ac is bad. I'm saying if you are going way out of your way to crank stats to get +1 dc to spells why would it not be worth it to actually invest treasure in your spells. Think of it this way would you build a 14 Dex 20 int wizard? Now would you build a 20 Dex 14 int wizard?
If the answer is yes then no then why would you spend 14000 on AC and not 14000 on spell DCs? The stat array is an admission that when building the character you though offence was more important then defense.
How much will you have to spend to get your next 4 ac? What can that get you in great that actually makes you a better wizard. You have to think in opportunity cost.
Last part of reliable which I explained above. Hp helps against every type of hit crits, failed ref saves, etc. Which is why I recommend a buffering cap in addition to ac if you focus on this. My benchmark for hp is typically a full attack and 1 aoo from a two handing barbarian. If you can handle that your usually ok. Crits happen and sometimes they come from scythes. There are lots of ways to stop keep damage down some are more cost effective free up resources for offense.
The same blog you cited has a piece called think tank. I like the methods there but I like to prepare for the worst a cr=lvl encounter is not supposed to be challenging. I like testing character at cr+3 as I said and see how they do.
Things I consider what would be a bad scenario?
- pounce and having to get away from that
Can I handle the damage?
What tools do I have to get to a safe location?
Once I have few situations I try to find the best way out of them.
Does your build reach optimized levels in every relevant category? Because if not meeting one benchmark is a moot point. Being optimized for avoiding attacks is good but you want to make sure your build is scaling in all aspects and not leaving thing behind.
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My mistake on the level I miss read I assumed we were still talking level 6. My bad, sorry! Got lost a little in writing. I actually think you at a reasonable level of investment for level 8. I would have used a Mithril buckler +2 for more ac at a lower cost. I also would by a spell storing haramaki with rime fridge touch in it. Now I prevent a full attack entangle and do damage.
Of course it's bad design but it as also worst case sinario for a full attack which is what kills casters and paizo stuff is full of these encounters.
I was not fully clear the average damage from a full attack against your defenses whether that be AC. On the first attack with 4 images 20% chance to hit + 5% on a nat one + miss because of AC. You will survive this the vast majority of the time with the 58 hp I had. I can get o my benchmark with no money.
Your build would have much stronger defenses if we share some optimization if you use mirror image your in a very strong position. But would rather any number of meta magic rods.
Under the same situations a 26 ac looks about 55% effective but with a 12 con for 39 hp you dead in a round.
I like to layer defenses. HP because it alway applies. Touch, flatfooted, ref saves. Stagger anyone that attacks me so I start to win the action economy game, while getting free damage and avoid a full attack. Add to this Dr defending bone is a spell I have up a lot applies many times when ac fails. Miss chance works on combat manuever so you don't get swallowed whole and mitigates damage. Then finally AC.
With a persistent rod your third level spells become deadly.
But since I was mistake on level and I hope have clarified this will be my last post because we are off topic. I will happily read your response.
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...picking fun items I would say mirror image + decoy ring + headband of int is better then shield + ac stuff + 2000 gp.
I have to agree. I've test-run the character through some APs, and a blaster just mops the floor in non-boss encounters, saving tons of party healing resources.
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STR:07
DEX+12
CON-14
INT+19
WIS:14
CHA:07
...Eschews AC and pays through the nose for a miserable 14:CON with 10 build points. We don't do ray spells, fire bows, or wear armor, so there's little point in DEX aside from Ref save. Fort and Will saves are as good as you can get in an elf without sacrificing more than -1 off an INT:20.
INIT score suffers versus the DEX:18 Sampy build, but I have found that Perception jacked to the nines is a more than able substitute: I.e., GM asks for a Perception roll; I get in the 30s... "OK, if it doesn't see me, I'll take us straight to combat and ambush while it's unaware...." <roll a 3> for puke INIT, but I'm the only person doing anything in the Surprise round -- and that is *just fine*.
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In Pathfinder Society you get two stat increases. One at level 4, one at level 8. At level 12 you get another, but by this stage you're at retirement and it doesn't really matter.
So you face two choices: either start with an even stat on your prime stat and put both points into it, or start with two odd stats and put a point into each.
For stats, I also like to pick an array that gives the most bonuses overall, rather than sacrificing many stats for a few big boosts. I'd rather have an extra +1 on my all of my saves than +1 to my spell DCs, for example.
Therefore, my choice for a spellcaster would be the following array: 16, 14, 12, 12, 12, 7
Overall, this gives +8 total stat bonuses spread across five stats, with a single -2 dump stat.
If, for example, you took Elf as your race, you'd be carrying the following array:
Str: 12
Dex: 14
Con: 12
Int: 18
Wis: 12
Cha: 7
You'll do just fine with 18 vs. 20 in your casting stat, but the extra defences you gain from the boost to your carrying capacity and CMD for Strength, initiative, AC and CMD for Dexterity, Fort saves and hit points for Constitution, and Will saves and Perception for Wisdom are worth the sacrifice, in my opinion.
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...Overall, this gives +8 total stat bonuses spread across five stats, with a single -2 dump stat.
If, for example, you took Elf as your race, you'd be carrying the following array:
Str: 12
Dex: 14
Con: 12
Int: 18
Wis: 12
Cha: 7
Wizards have the luxury of *two* dump stats (they quite literally need nothing from either STR or CHA).
The most bonus-dense two-dump array is: 17,14,14,14,07,07, which in an elf resolves to:
STR:07
DEX+16
CON-12
INT+19
WIS:14
CHA:07
...which is probably what I am going to go with.